Sergeant in Chen case cleared of negligent homicide

Sergeant Adam Holcomb was found guilty last month of maltreatment and assault against Private Danny Chen, 19, of the East Village. Photo courtesy U.S. Army

BY ALINE REYNOLDS | Sergeant Adam Holcomb, the first of eight soldiers to be tried in connection with U.S. Army Private Danny Chen’s suicide, has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and $1,182 forfeiture of pay.

The penalties, tied to two counts of maltreatment and one count of assault, fall short of what Holcomb would have faced had he been convicted of negligent homicide and reckless endangerment — which could have resulted in dishonorable discharge from the Army and 17 years in jail.

The verdict, determined by a court-martial panel based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, followed five days of testimony by several fellow soldiers, family members and friends of Chen — in addition to a U.S. Air Force medical examiner who autopsied Chen’s body.

Chen, 19, who lived with his parents in East Village public housing, is believed to have fatally shot himself in a guard tower in Kandahar, Afghanistan, last October.

Chen’s parents, Su Zhen and Yan Tao Chen made the trip by car from New York to Fort Bragg to attend the trials late last month.

In a statement, the couple said, “We would like to thank everyone who has assisted us in this very difficult time. We still are grieving for the loss of our precious son, and we hope that justice will be done for his sake.

“Until all of the trials are over, we do not wish to say anything more, and we ask that our privacy be respected.”

Liz OuYang, president of the Organization of Chinese Americans, the leading advocacy group in the Chen case, was distraught over the panel’s verdict — particularly since it exempts Holcomb from being discharged from the Army.

“To allow Sergeant Adam Holcomb to remain in the military will make Asian-American parents feel very hesitant to allow their children in the Army,” OuYang said.

She added, “We were hoping he would get the maximum prison time of two years” for the maltreatment and assault counts.

Councilmember Margaret Chin, representing Lower Manhattan, was also outraged by the verdict and is requesting that Lieutenant General Daniel Allyn, chief of the Fort Bragg corps, still consider Holcomb’s expulsion. Chin and Council Speaker Christine Quinn have written to the lieutenant asking that Holcomb be removed from the Army “to honor the service of Private Chen, to appropriately condemn the treatment of Private Chen and to assure those who serve in the military that they should expect to treat and be treated with respect and dignity.”

“You can see a pattern of abuse that was taking place that really affected Danny tremendously,” Chin said. “He was being called all kinds of names, and the panel didn’t think those names were racial slurs.

“To allow Holcomb to remain in the armed forces,” she continued, “is to condone his racist and abusive behavior.”

According to Chin, one soldier testified that, when a soldier witnesses a fellow soldier getting “smoked” — an Army term signifying strenuous, punishment-induced exercise — he or she isn’t supposed to get involved. Some soldiers testified that Chen was being “smoked” for no reason at all, the councilmember noted.

Other soldiers from Chen’s unit testified that Chen was timid and wasn’t physically suited for a war zone.

Chin argued that if Chen, indeed, wasn’t physically prepared for combat in Afghanistan, the Army should have never assigned him to that unit.

“From the testimony, it really doesn’t make sense why he was sent there,” Chin said. “But it doesn’t justify the superior officers who are in charge of Danny to treat him like that and to drive him to the point where he didn’t see any way out.”

Chen wasn’t the only soldier who was maltreated by Holcomb: Private Marcus Merritt told the panel that he also contemplated suicide after being verbally abused by the sergeant, according to reports.

Merritt said he was mockingly called “niglet,” among other racial slurs, and that Holcomb threatened to send him home in a body bag.

One witness alleged that Chen expressed thoughts of suicide in the days prior to his death, and said his parents spoke of disowning him when briefed on their son’s deployment to Afghanistan, according to news reports.

Chen’s father, refuting the latter claim, told the panel he was fully supportive of his son entering the Army.

His father was quoted in the Times article as saying, “I never disowned my son because, when we Chinese raise our children, it’s they who will take care of us when we grow old. So he was like a pearl in my palm.”

Asked for comment on Holcomb’s sentence, Army spokesperson George Wright said, “I know there’s a great desire for justice. We share that. In our justice system, there are provisions for review and appeal.”

The Court-Martial Convening Authority typically takes three months to review the panel’s decision, after which Holcomb has the right to appeal before the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, according to military law.

Seven other soldiers from Chen’s unit — whose stateside base is Fort Wainwright, Alaska — also face charges in connection with Chen’s death and will be tried in the coming months.

According to the Army, Specialist Ryan Offutt’s court-martial will take place Aug. 13-15, followed by Staff Sergeant Blaine Dugas’s trial on Aug. 16-17, and Specialist Thomas Curtis’s trial on Aug. 27-29. The court-martial for Staff Sergeant Andrew Van Bockel and First Lieutenant Daniel Schwartz are scheduled for October, and the trial dates for Sergeants Jeffrey Hurst and Travis Carden are pending.

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